Nevada jobless rate up in July

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CARSON CITY, Nev. — Nevada’s seasonally adjusted and raw unemployment rates rose in July to 12 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively.The seasonal adjustments take into account annual events such as the holiday retail season and the start and end of school years.The rate translates to a total of 163,700 people looking for work in Nevada, state officials said Friday.Despite the increase, the percentage of those out of work is still well below the 13.8 percent in July 2011 and the recessionary peak of 14 percent.The increase from 11.6 percent statewide was driven by an increase of 0.7 of a percentage point in the Las Vegas area, which finished the month at 12.9 percent, highest of Nevada’s major reporting areas and home to nearly 127,000 of those jobless.Carson City’s rate also increased in July from 11.7 percent to 12.2 percent. The capital has 3,400 jobless in a workforce of roughly 28,000. That is up about 100 from June. Continued reductions in the public sector were to blame for the increase of 0.5 of a percentage point.Reno-Sparks also saw an increase in July, but of only 0.3 percentage points to 12 percent with 26,800 of 222,500 in the workforce looking for employment.Despite the increase in the jobless rate, the chief economist for the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation said the state’s economy continued to create more jobs this summer. Bill Anderson said Nevada’s economy has added 10,300 jobs over the past 12 months.The private sector actually added 12,600 jobs, but that total was partially offset by continued reductions in the public sector — federal, state and local government along with schools and colleges.Gov. Brian Sandoval said Nevada’s “slight uptick” in unemployment matched what happened in the country as a whole. But he said he was pleased that job growth continued for the 13th month in a row.Anderson’s analysis of the situation with continued job growth seems to contradict the rise in unemployment, making it hard to draw conclusions.“But we see little in our outlook for continued moderate improvement in the state’s labor market,” he said. “Some months will likely bring encouraging news, while other months will result in a retreat, but the overall trend is one of slow recovery.”Churchill County also saw an increase in the unemployment rate in July. Total jobless rose from 1,300 to 1,410, driving the rate up 0.8 of a percentage point to 10.3 percent. That is Churchill’s highest rate since January.That, however, is still far lower than Lyon County, which suffered a 0.5 of a percentage point increase to 15.3 percent. That total is exceeded only by Nye County’s 15.7 percent.Other parts of the state fared better. Douglas County held steady at 12.4 percent, its lowest rate this year.The lowest rates are in the rural areas, led by Lander County with just 5.7 percent unemployment, and Esmeralda at 6.5 percent. While Elko went up 0.4 of a percentage point from June, its jobless percentage is still just 6.7 percent.“The news is further evidence that we must continue business development efforts to attract new companies and support the expansion of existing companies to get more Nevadans back to work,” said Sandoval.